Chapter 21

The end of the day felt like the end of twenty days. Neal was all ready to leave the office and not look back. Even though he usually found the day-to-day tasks dull and hardly exciting enough for a person of his skill set, today it was just what he needed. Mindless distraction. Or as mindless as it could be with Jason texting him every couple of minutes. He muted his phone partway through the day and just checked it whenever he had a spare moment.

"Neal," Peter said before he could grab everything and leave. "Do you have a moment?"

Saying 'no' would be suspicious. But agreeing meant having to talk to Peter with a forced smile while almost dead on his feet.

"Sure." What happened to being able to talk his way out of anything? Neal cursed his golden tongue which decided to stop working as he made his way up to Peter's office.

"Why were you at the hospital last night? Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine Peter." Physically, at least. "Someone I know ended up in the hospital last night and we all went to wish him well."

Peter didn't seem surprised to hear that. He had probably guessed already.

"And why was your phone going off all the time? Is this person okay? It's not Mozzie, is it?"

"It's not Mozzie," Neal said. "Do you really think Mozzie would go to hospital unless he was unconscious?"

Peter gave a long suffering sigh. Neal was surprised. It seemed Mozzie had grown on the agent as Peter cared about whether Mozzie was looking after himself.

The door burst open.

"I know who's in hospital!" Chuck, who had caught the end of the conversation, cried out. He had been waiting nervously outside, looking for a moment to knock while trying not to interrupt their conversation. Peter had been trying to let Neal know that it was okay to rely on him and Chuck didn't want to interfere. After all, Bryce needed to know that he had people ready to help him.

"Really, Chuck?" Neal questioned flatly. His friend was still a geek, timing his entries for effect.

Chuck nodded. "Beckman's very interested in what happened last night. She's been keeping an eye on things related to your SOE friend."

"Ex-SOE. Alfred hasn't been in the game for decades."

"Alfred, huh?" Peter mused. Neal's heart skipped a beat before he remembered that there was little that Peter could do without a last name.

"Yes!" Chuck said. "He's a really interesting guy! I'd love to know what makes a man give up acting and spy work to go live in Gotham."

"Gotham?"

Neal always found people's reactions to his father's city amusing. They acted like it was a shocking thing to hear. Sure, it had some of the highest crime rates of the country at one time, but it was slowly lowering. Someday, it might even lower than average.

"Isn't that the city where Batman works?" Peter said.

"Batman?" That was not a name Neal expected Peter to say.

"Yes!" Chuck said excitedly. "Do you think the stories are real? I mean, we know that Batman's somehow able to stand with the Justice League but that he manages crime in Gotham himself is superhuman!"

"If he hangs out with the Justice League, chances are that he's superhuman."

"He's not the only costumed vigilante that Gotham has though," Neal pointed out. He felt it was important that they knew that.

"Right, isn't there a whole group of them? People have no clue who's on what side in that city. We had Red Hood on a number of watch lists but apparently the Gotham police consider him part of Batman's brood? I don't know how anyone handles it."

"There's rumours of a Batwoman and I want to see her! I mean, I know there's confirmed sightings of a Batgirl and people think that they're one and the same but I want to see her for myself!"

"You want to go to Gotham?" The disbelief was heavy in Neal's voice.

Chuck winced. "A little. But Sarah's not too fussed on the idea and my sister might kill me if I went somewhere as dangerous as that."

"Makes sense. They say taxis from outside of Gotham won't take you across the bridge which leads into Gotham city, no matter how much you pay them. You have to cross yourself or get a Gotham taxi. That's just the kind of place Gotham is."

Chuck nodded and Neal could feel Peter's stare. It wasn't like staring would tell Peter the connection between himself and Alfred.

"Didn't Alfred raise you?" Peter said.

"No way. I thought you grew up in Connecticut!"

Neal winced. "People act weird when you say you're from Gotham. Plus, I didn't really enter Stanford under my name. Alfred helped me make up an alias, Bryce Larkin, since I was trying to distance myself from my past." Besides, Damian Wayne had almost as many enemies as Robin did.

Chuck's mouth dropped open. "So what even is your name?"

Neal grinned. This, he could answer. "Bryce Larkin, Neal Caffrey, George Devore, James Maine, and so on. Some I am more attached to more than others but they're all me." Or parts of himself.

"'What's in a name', huh?" Peter muttered.

Chuck shook his head with a fond smile. "Maybe you'll find one you become completely attached to. Like Sarah."

"She settled for 'Sarah Bartowski', didn't she?" Neal teased.

"She didn't settle," Chuck muttered.

Neal laughed. He knew that! Sarah would never settle, not in love.

"What about Mar'i?" Peter asked. "Which one is she going to marry?" That question pierced right to the heart of why Neal was hesitating with popping the question.

It had been his plan to propose as Neal Caffrey when it looked like he would be Neal Caffrey for the foreseeable future but he had to admit that his future was a little more clouded now that he was involved with the FBI.

"You're going to ask Mar'i to marry you? Congratulations!"

Neal nervously smiled at Chuck. He knew his friend was just happy for him. "I don't know when I'm going to get a chance. Everyone's focused on what happened to Alfred."

"We're here for that," Peter said. "Don't try to do anything on your own."

"And we'll totally help with your proposal! Do you have a ring?"

Neal laughed and told Chuck the story of the ring he gave up as ransom to save Peter. Peter acted embarrassed, pointing out that Neal didn't have to pay the ransom. Although he was glad his friend did.

Neal felt better when he was around Peter and Chuck. For a while, he had someone to distract him from Alfred being in the hospital. The moment he crossed the threshold into June's home, the worry and sick feeling in his gut returned.

Maybe he would put a costume on and go beat up some criminals to help? He had to toss that plan when he opened his apartment door and found Dick Grayson sitting at the table. He had a manilla folder sitting in front of him.

Mar'i was sitting at the end of the table. She was pouting and glaring at the folder.

"I found out what brought Alfred to New York."

"What?" Neal questioned taking a seat. Not even a hello? He opened the file. It contained information on the commutation of Neal Caffrey's sentence. "What?" he repeated in a high screech

"Bruce found out about Neal Caffrey. Alfred was here to extract you but got hit in transit."

"Which means what?" Damian asked.

"Neal Caffrey's leaving and Damian Wayne is going to arrive at his father's New York apartment tonight."